There's Power and Grace-L in those sophomores; UMass hockey opens at Northeastern

Troy Power is one of the sophomores counted on to give UMass more scoring this year.

The University of Massachusetts hockey team scored a total of only 88 goals last season, just over 2.5 per game, but that’s a number that could grow significantly with a dozen sophomore skaters, who are a year older, wiser and stronger.

And they might as well start Friday when the Minutemen play their season opener at Northeastern at 7 p.m.

Two sophomores who could put up some points this season are forwards Troy Power and Branden Gracel, who combined for 66 goals and 72 assists in their last year of junior, but were 4-11-15 together in their first year at UMass. Hockey East is an incredibly tough league, but there were other factors as well
.
For Power, it was a shoulder injury suffered in practice right before the season opener at Minnesota. And then he was slowed for a six-week period with knee problems. And by his own admission, he pressed, and “gripped the stick too tight”.

For Gracel, who is from Calgary, Alberta, it wasn’t just getting to know the team, the coaches, and the league, much of the learning curve came from school itself.

“A lot of it has to do with school and time management,” Gracel said. “You’re going from playing two years of junior hockey, and not going to school to a full course load. It’s a big culture shock. Now after a year, we have more time management skills, and can put the energy into hockey when it’s time for hockey.”

Gracel also added that as sophomores, the coaches have more confidence that you know what you should be doing, and don’t have to follow you around for every little thing.

On the ice, Gracel had four goals and nine assists for 13 points, but knows he could have done better.

“I had a lot of chances but the goalies would stop them,” Gracel said. “This year, I’ve got to bear down and finish.”

Power said he is hoping for a performance lift in his second year at UMass like he had for the Omaha Lancers of the USHL where he was a teammate with UMass sophomore goalie Jeff Teglia. In his first season there, he registered five goals and 10 assists in 46 games, but the following year was 28-16-44 with a plus-20 rating in 57 games. With the injuries, he appeared in only 18 games last season for the Minutemen, and had two assists.

"In the sophomore class, you've got a number of guys who got a lot of ice time that maybe didn't put up numbers last year that are in a position to do more," UMass coach Toot Cahoon said on Hockey East media day. "Troy Power comes to mind. He scored nearly 30 goals in the USHL, and that's usually a pretty good indicator that they're going to be able to score on our level. He just started early with stressing out, pressing, and looking aat the bottom line at the end of the game, and not seeing his name on the score sheet.

"And I think that got in the way.I think he's dedicated himself, as a lot of athletes do at this level to get a little bit harder in terms of their conditioning. He's leaner, he looks like he's a half a step quicker. He's an example of a guy who can give us more, and there's a half dozen guys more like that - Conor Sheary. I think Conor Sheary is going to be a great player. He's still the second or third youngest player in our program as a sophomore And when he emerges, I think he's going to be a top end guys offensively."